WSSC says it already meets EPA PFAS drinking-water limits and is boosting lab, research and source-control work

WSSC Water told the committee its drinking-water portfolio currently meets the EPA's April 2024 PFAS drinking-water limits and that the utility is preparing for broader future regulation of wastewater and biosolids. "EPA issued their 1st drinking water limits in April of this year," Priscilla To, interim PFAS program manager, said, and added that WSSC has about five years of PFAS monitoring data published on its website.

To outlined a two-priority strategy: increase internal analytical capacity (near-term in-house lab equipment and staff) and use a SmartONE water-management approach that emphasizes source control to reduce long-term treatment costs. She also said WSSC participates in eight PFAS research projects funded at about $7,000,000 to date and is surveying the utility's entire watershed and wastewater collection system to locate potential PFAS sources. Council members sought clarification about well testing and whether WSSC's research extends beyond the utility's distribution system; To said source-water surveys extend up through the Potomac and Patuxent watersheds and that household-level tests are available but costly and provide only short-term snapshots.

WSSC said the most economical, sustainable PFAS response is source control and cross-jurisdiction collaboration, but that it is also preparing bench-scale treatment tests in case regulatory requirements push treatment obligations onto utilities.